You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy.
Not knowing what day it is.
Perhaps that is the sign of a good vacation. Perhaps it’s the sign of one too many adult beverages.
I keep thinking it’s Saturday for some reason. Perhaps because Saturday is the best day. You don’t have to go to work, you don’t have to get up early in the morning, you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.
I’m on day ? of my vacation and NOW it really feels like a vacation.
I wake up and coffee is in the pot. The ethereal wind chimes on the deck signal the start of another day. Maybe the fog will roll in, maybe it won’t. It’s not a major concern. There is a clock in the room ticking. To me it means nothing. Tick Tock. I like it, it reminds me I am alive. It is quiet. Nobody is asking me for money or to find an exclusive story right now.
If I am hungry I will eat. If I’m tired I will sleep. I am like a puppy with no concerns except who will play with me or scratch me behind my floppy ears.
I am connected to the world through an iphone. It chirps with texts and facebook notifications. I view it with minor amusement. At home the phone is a chain around my neck, securing me to a labor intensive pressure cooker that induces heart attacks.
But here, in this sun filled, wind chimes of another beautiful day, the iphone is little more than a high resolution camera helping to stock pile memories.
The little phone periodically chirps. I look and it’s another Facebook notification.
NO. I will not join Farmville no matter how many of you ask me. Find another hobby people; perhaps one where you actually get some sunshine on your face.
I have only seen one email that even raised an eye brow. A County Commissioner arrested for drunk driving. I questioned whether to react to it. What time is it? What day is it? Who is this guy? Who even cares in the cosmic obliteration of life? One guy. One offense. So what?
I forwarded the solitary tip to work and quickly deleted the note. I don’t care. Air it don’t air it, it is of no concern to me.
If I have learned anything in my career, it’s this: News will not stop.
The world keeps turning. One man shoots up a movie theater full of people and soon something else will take its place. The only constant is change.
Maybe if the newsroom misses some key stories, they will be reminded of my value to the organization. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.
This is the vacation my brain needed.
I hadn’t taken any time for me in close to a year. I was beginning to get punch drunk. You can only answer so many emails about living conditions for prisoners. You can only care so much about the lemon car you bought from the car dealer who tricked you. You can only answer so many phone calls from countless people about perpetual roofing scams and the convenience store robbers and the millionth motorcycle fatality on the interstate.
Like a wet wash cloth I was saturated and could not absorb any more stories or news or deadlines. One more murder, one more scam one more back to school story.
Who cares?
I need a beer in the evening. I need a cup of coffee in the morning. I need a sunset and a clock ticking that represents nothing more than the rhythmic pulse of life.
I have a week of oceans and valleys and blue skies and fog. I look forward to everything and nothing and who knows what will happen in between.
As for what day is it? I don’t know, I don’t care. It’s apparently day time because the sun is up. Soon it will be night time because the sun will be gone.
I am a cave man with only a prehistoric need for a few things. Food, shelter and well it is night time right?
I am recharging the batteries and acknowledging the moment, because I know it will only take a day, once I’m back, to revert to the chaotic landfill that is news.
Returning to work will be like throwing swampy water on the Mona Lisa. The creation of the vacation will be gone, replaced by what was and always will be, the chronic ache of news and the despair of people unhappy with their station in life.
It’s coming soon to a news channel near you. But not today. Today is about wringing the wash cloth dry so when the time is right I can once again absorb.
And that is crazy.